Long years ago, seven maybe, Apple launched what they termed a “ground breaking online service”. Called eWorld, it was an interactive community with a characteristically Apple-friendly environment. I recall wandering through a life-sized depiction of it at MacWorld. Standing amongst those cartoon building and friendly people cut-outs I thought “could this be the future of online communities?” But within a year I had loaded up my first web browser over my Netcom account and never looked back. eWorld pressed on, as their list of press releases attests, adding content from various publishers, Apple & Claris support areas, NewtonMail, and O.J. Simpson coverage. They added World Wide Web access in July of 1995 (not shabby at all). But in March 1996 the happy world came to an end and the friendly people cut-outs were witnesses to an employee memorial.

Two days ago, courtesy of a random brain spark, I suddenly said to my husband (a long-ago Apple employee): “Whatever happened to eWorld?” His response? “It turned into AOL.” I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “turned into” is perhaps not the right phrase; Apple replaced eWorld with AOL as its preferred online service and AOL committed to an Apple client and WWW access. But Apple hasn’t forgotten eWorld entirely. eworld.com, purchased January 1994 and last renewed in February 2001, takes you to Apple’s home page.